Providence Perambulations

We managed to get ourselves out of the cozy confines of the plush king sized bed barely in time to get our complimentary breakfast before the management put it away. We sat in a quiet alcove, well quiet except for the super loud lady with the Fran Drescher accent, and enjoyed some mediocre cafeteria fare.

Not quite ready for prime time, we went back up to the room and relaxed, doing a blog post and reading the paper. At 11:45, it was time to go across the street to the Arcade shops and get myself a haircut at Impulse. Joe was my barber and he worked on my hair while PJ flitted about playing paparazzi.

Freshly shorn, we hit the pavement and walked down to the gourmet deli and fixed ourselves up a couple of plate lunches to take to the room and nosh on as we planned our day. They had long trays of both gourmet hot food as well as cold offerings. We both agreed that the crab salad was a stand out.

After lunch, it was time to hit the bricks. We walked across the river and up into the east side to check out Brown University. Beautiful tree lined streets with tons of stately old buildings. Wandering around the campus, we explored a small museum in a big parthenon looking building and posed over near the bear statue. A few other people were touring around but the summertime campus was quiet and serene.

We went into the artsy commercial area filled with cafes, restaurants and pubs catering to the student population. Deciding on a mug of tea to celebrate marking 32 years of continuous sobriety for me today, we hung out a while in Tealuxe, a hip little cafe and watched the mixture of bohemian kids, local residents and homeless folk walk past the large glass windows. After finishing our chai and biscotti, we hiked up Prospect Street past the stately homes, many built in the 1700s. We poked our heads into the Rhode Island School of Design, but their exhibits were being redone and the gallery section was closed today.

We trudged on down the hill to the Capitol building and meandered about the grounds. Some protesters were gathering up but they were few and there didn’t appear to be much of an audience, so maybe they were just rehearsing for Monday.

The air was fresh and the sky was threatening rain as we strolled along the river walk. A small tour boat was shuttling tourists around as the gondolas sat forlornly along the bank waiting for potential customers. There was a large underpass with hand painted tiles that were set into the walls as a memorial after 911. A small crowd was milling about reading the sentiments and reflecting on the words.

PJ really wanted to take a pass through the Providence Place mall, so we took our lives into our hands and ran across the traffic burdened streets and entered the mall by the large horse statues. The mall is more a vertical mall than a horizontal mall. Escalators go up around 6 floors spreading the shopping around on multiple floors. We rode to the top, had a look around and then exited back onto the streets by the canal.

By the time we got back to the business area surrounding our hotel, we had been hoofing it around for nearly five hours. Once back in the room, it was time to lounge. I pulled out the Blu-ray from my bag to watch some Game of Thrones but realized that there was a power cord missing, so binge watching was off the agenda. Veggie Fun left overs from yesterday were on the menu and we spent the evening reading, writing, and relaxing.